A COLLEAGUE of mine, Neil Macfarlane, said to me yesterday: “What is Life?”

At first I thought it was a Monday morning existentialist question, but Neil's not that deep and he's been away on his honeymoon for the past couple of weeks, so I knew he was talking about the BBC's excellent new documentary.

It has been a hot topic of conversation in the office, with pretty much everyone agreeing that it alone justifies the Licence Fee.

Some of the footage captured in the first three episodes has been nothing short of amazing. The highlights for me have been the insect that can blow its own head up (always handy), the fascinating footage of the Komodo dragons and aquaphobic lizard.

There have also been some comedy animals, with meerkats proving they don't have to say 'simples' to make people laugh and the poor old snake who over-slept so had to pretend it was a female to attract amorous males who rubbed up against it to warm up. I've always thought “the early bird catches the worm” was sage advice, but perhaps not as effective as “the late snake has to camp it up and be groped by sex-mad males.”

Life took three years to film and the behind-the-scenes section at the end of each episode is almost as interesting as the documentary itself. Crews were sent around the world to capture footage, some waiting for months on end to film that 10-second shot which would wow the audience. It doesn't seem a bad job if you were the ones that had to spend eight weeks in the Caribbean tracking humpback whales, but it doesn't seem so attractive if you're stuck halfway up a mountain watching goats.

The problem is, the first two episodes set the bar so high, that now I expect something phenomenal to happen in each five-minute section. Last night's show started with some sea lions – mother and pup. The mother went into the ice, had a swim about, popped back onto the ice for a bit, chilled out, got back in the water with her pup and got back out again. Great shots, but all the time I was expecting more. Having seen a frog throw itself down a mountain the previous week, I wanted to see the seal catch a shark, do a dance, or even blow air into its head to force its eyes outwards. Perhaps I've been spoilt.